Item #253 Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries. Kory Stamper.
Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries

Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries

Vintage Publishing, 2018. Paperback. A clean crisp well preserved 2018 Vintage Publishing softcover in a fine tight binding. Little to no shelf wear. Text is bright and free of marks or underlining. Fast shipping in a secure book box mailer with tracking. New. Item #253
ISBN: 9781101970263

"We think of English as a fortress to be defended, but a better analogy is to think of English as a child. We love and nurture it into being, and once it gains gross motor skills, it starts going exactly where we don't want it to go: it heads right for the goddamned electrical sockets."

With wit and irreverence, lexicographer Kory Stamper cracks open the obsessive world of dictionary writing, from the agonizing decisions about what to define and how to do it to the knotty questions of ever-changing word usage.

Filled with fun facts--for example, the first documented usage of "OMG" was in a letter to Winston Churchill--and Stamper's own stories from the linguistic front lines (including how she became America's foremost "irregardless" apologist, despite loathing the word), Word by Word is an endlessly entertaining look at the wonderful complexities and eccentricities of the English language.

Price: $8.95

See all items in Linguistics
See all items by